San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-01-21
CHAPTER x,

y.
Marks words cleft the sweet, spring
air like a sharp arrow with poisoned
barb; they had pierced the heart that
loved him, and | fell upon the grass like
one dead. My heart was pierced, my
whole soul crushed. There l lay in the
first smart of my anguish.
For few minutes all was darkness
and oblivion; and then Mark tried to
raise me.
II have killed you, Nellie" he said,
~ have killed you!"
NO" answered, raising my white,
miserable face to his: lit is worse than
that. Do not touch me! Leave mel"
Nellie, could have died to save you
thisl" 80 t'-. ..-
A sudden overwhelming sense Of
scorn for him, of loathing for myself,
a hot, fierce passion Of defiance and re-
bellion seized me. | rose to my feet;
new life and new strength came to me,
my whole frame vibrated with passion.
"You are WHAT" cried. Say it to
me again-let me be sure that 1 have
heard Alright. You are what?"
II am married, Nellie"
Married. And you have been wick
ed enough, coward enough to let me say
all that l have said! You have been
mean enough to let me pour out my
heart, to let me lavish my love on you'll
How could your Why did you not tell
me the truth the first moment you saw
mep How dare you take me in your
arms and kiss me when you knew all
the time that you belonged to some one
else?"
Forgive me, Nellie. can never
forgive myself. had no time to think"
he said, humbly.
Il shall never respect myself again!"
l cried. And thought that Heaven
had sent you in answer to my longing
and my prayers. Give me back my
words of welcome; give me back my
kisses. They were for true lover, not
for you. Give me back my love. Be-
lieve me, before Heaven, had l known,
had l guessed or thought that you were
married, not one such word should have
crossed my lips!"
II know" ne said, humbly.
You are married. Oh, cannot be-
lieve it! You are trying me. You
want to see if my love be true; you are
testing my faith. You cannot be mar
ried; you could not marry any one but
me!''
"Alas, Nellie, it is true!" he cried.
"Truew i flung up my arms in de-
spair. Mark had deceived me; Mark
was untrue to me; Mark, my lover, my
hero, was false.
Could any shame. any degradation
equal miner had flung my arms round
his neck, / had kissed him, 1 had called
him by every loving name that one
could give to another, and he was mar
riedl His love, his caresses, belonged
to some other woman, not to me. The
beauty of his dark face, the memory Of
his love, seemed to creep into my heart
again and set it on fire. Mad, passion
ate jealousy seized me.
Whom have you married?" / cried.
u shall kill her if | see herl She
shall not live who has stolen my love
from mel"
"She did not know, Nellie" he said,
speaking always in the same low tone.
''She knew nothing Of you. 1t was all
my fault, dear"
Quickly as it had come, the fame Of
jealousy died away. The light had
gone from the skies, the beauty from
the glad green earth; l was alone with
my desolatiOn and my sorrow. The
greatness of my loss came homo to me.
Mark was living and well; he was here
in my sight; but we were parted for
ever. No grave dug by human hands
could be so deep as the one that lay be-
tween us. He was there, but no longer
mine. must love him and caress him
no more. had mourned for him as alb
sent, / had wept for him as dead; but
| had never thought of him as caring
for any one else in the wide wOrld-he
had been so entirely nv own.
Nellie" he said, in low voice, do
you know that feel like a murderer
! have blighted the sweetest life; /
have killed the truest love; / have be-
trayed the most loyal faith ever placed
in man. Oh, love, your eyes look like
those of a wounded dove; and / may
not comfort you any more"
mo, never again in this world, Mark,
No comfort, no consolation, can come
from you to me; and I-oh, loved you
80 dearly Since that May morning
when we met beside the lilac-trees, my
heart has been full of you. II has held
nothing else. When | thought you dead,
consecrated my life in loving memory
of you. / could have taken my love in
to the spirit-world pure, unchanged and
untouched: while yOu-yOu are married.
1t is enough to make the angels weep!
And now have kissed you and poured
out my love to you who are no longer
The next thing heard was the terri
BILE sound of my own hysterical laugh
ter breaking amid the trees. Such wild
horrible laughter it was. / could not
help it; | tried in vain to stop it.
"A married MANI cried, over and
over again. "A married mani" And l
believed him to be my true lover Mark.
He came to me. He would not heed
my passionate cries that he should
not touch me. He raised me from the
ground; he removed the leaves and
grass from my hair; he took my hands
and held them in his.
Nellie" he said, "try to listen to
me, dear. You will kill yourself if you
give way like this"
Was it of any use to say that / hoped
1 should, Of any use to struggle to free
my hands from his clasp? Oh, my
bruised, beating, wounded heart, it was
notl
''Try, my darling, try, Nellie, for the
sake of old times, to listen to me-" he
pleaded.
you must not call me darling" I
cried, bitter jealousy flaming in my
heart again; "you have another darling
now. You have some one else to love
and caress and call your own"
And IN some vague way | knew by
the groan that came from his lips that
/ WAS still his DARLING apd tbat ba ala